Fairy Lights
by hollyhobbit101
Summary: Most of the time, Harry is more than happy to teach Arthur about muggle technology. But, when he receives a phone call at 5am, he begins to regret ever telling him about a telephone.


**For the wonderful AJ**

* * *

Most of the time, Harry was more than happy to help Arthur learn about muggle technology. It was rewarding, in its own way - being able to see Arthur's excitement whenever he managed to operate something correctly was always a proud moment. But, when he was woken at 5am on one of his few days off to the sound of the phone loudly ringing, he seriously began to regret ever teaching Arthur Weasley how a telephone worked.

"Yes?" Harry said, not bothering to disguise his chagrin at being awake.

"HARRY! IS THAT YOU? ARE YOU THERE?" Arthur bellowed.

Harry grimaced and held the phone away from his ear. Part of him desperately wanted to just claim a bad connection and go back to bed, but he knew that would be cruel.

"Hi, Mr Weasley," he replied tiredly. "Yes, I'm here, and no, you don't need to shout. I can hear you just fine without."

"Right, of course," Arthur said, only marginally less loud, but Harry would take what he could get. "I only called to tell you to come down to The Burrow immediately - I would have used an owl, of course, but I thought this might be a little quicker, and I don't know how reliable Errol is these days, you know - "

"Mr Weasley," Harry interrupted. "Are you sure this can't wait? It's just, it's early, and my day off."

"I'm sorry, Harry, but it is of the utmost importance. I've made a wonderful discovery, and I need you here right away."

Harry sighed. "Alright," he said. "Let me just get dressed, then I'll come right to you."

"Splendid!" Arthur exclaimed. There was a long pause on the other end, during which Harry could only hear Arthur's breathing. He shook his head, smiling faintly. Arthur must have forgotten that he had to cut the call off.

"You can put the phone down now, Mr Weasley," he encouraged.

"Oh! Right! Yes, of course." There was a loud scuffling noise, followed by a quiet, "A-ha!" before, finally, the line went dead. Harry breathed out slowly, leaning against the wall and rubbing his eyes. He stood there for a minute, before summoning his energy and dragging himself to the shower.

This had better be worth it.

* * *

Half an hour later, and Harry was stood in the Weasley's living room, which was covered top-to-bottom in muggle Christmas decorations.

"Mr Weasley," Harry said slowly, not quite believing what he was seeing. "You do know that it's the middle of January, right?"

Arthur frowned at him. "Of course I do, Harry. Why do you ask?"

"It's just... These are all Christmas decorations," Harry told him, gesturing around the room.

"Yes, Molly told me that, too, but I just thought they looked so fascinating that I had to ask you about them," Arthur said simply. "For example," he held up a plastic bauble, "what does this do?"

Harry smiled and took the bauble from him, turning it over in his hands. "It doesn't... it doesn't really _do_ anything," he said, shrugging.

Arthur looked at him in disbelief. "Nothing at all? There's nothing hidden inside it, or, or, it doesn't light up or play music or anything?"

Harry shook his head. "No. We just use them to decorate our trees."

He handed the bauble back to Arthur, who stared at it as if it held the answers to the universe. "Fascinating," he muttered, before carefully setting it down on the table. "What about these?" he asked, holding up a tangled bunch of lights.

"They're lights," Harry said. "They work using electricity."

"Are you sure, Harry?" Arthur asked worriedly. "Only, the box called them 'fairy lights', and I couldn't help but wonder..."

"Oh! No, no, no," Harry quickly reassured him. "They're not, you know, real fairies. They're just wires and bulbs and electricity and..." He trailed off, seeing Arthur's confused expression. No matter how many times Harry explained electricity to him, Arthur never seemed to quite understand.

"Do you want me to show you?" Harry asked, holding out a hand for the lights.

Arthur beamed and handed over the lights. Harry took them and went wading through the Christmas debris to the plug sockets that had been installed by an extremely confused electrician the previous summer. Harry knew that electricity in the Weasley household was always going to be something of a hazard, but they'd managed okay so far, and he figured that they'd probably be able to deal with any problems that came up.

Finding the socket, Harry plugged the lights in, smiling as they came to life in his hands, flashing and twinkling. Arthur came up behind him and peered over his shoulder, watching them in wonder.

"Incredible!" Arthur exclaimed. "The things these muggles come up with, really, it's genius!"

Harry smiled at him again, then began to untangle them, and idea coming to mind. "Come on," he said. "I'll show you how muggle use them."

It took a long time, and several half-hearted protestations from Molly, but eventually almost the entire Burrow was bedecked in colourful lights. Arthur kept examining them closely, then stepping back to take in the full sight with awe. He grinned at Harry.

"This really is marvellous, quite marvellous," he said. "Thank you for coming out here, Harry, and I do apologise for the early start."

Harry waved the apology off. "That's okay, Mr Weasley," he said. "I don't mind."


End file.
